


Running Circles

by CyrilLeonhearts



Category: 1bitHeart (Video Game)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-08-24
Packaged: 2018-12-19 11:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11897058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrilLeonhearts/pseuds/CyrilLeonhearts
Summary: Misane wakes up in Nanashi's bed after Nanashi strangled his future self. She always does. Time Loop AU





	Running Circles

Misane has seen Nanashi strangle himself dozens of times. She can shut her eyes and imagine it in infuriatingly perfect detail. His wide, pink eyes blank as his fists curl around his older self’s neck. The pained gasps and half breaths that stabbed the air and her chest. The glassy look in Nanashi’s eyes as he lay on the ground, staring at nothing with a small smile. They’re never accusatory. She stared for hours, searched for a hint of hatred; for a shred of ill will.

There’s none. Every time there is nothing but that same smile and a petering laugh that infected her brain.

* * *

 

She woke up in Nanashi’s futon the next morning confused. The hurt is still raw and threatened to tear her in two. Streaks carve into her cheeks and if she licked them she can taste her own failure.

Nanashi doesn’t know who she is, greeting her with a “Who the?!” instead of a ‘Good morning!’ He simply scratched at his cheek and gave an uneasy smile as she stared at him and asked why he was surprised. They went back and forth for a little while till he finally asked why he would know her and how she got into the apartment. It’s hard to answer and even harder to lie about how she’s an amnesiac. The lies stuck in her throat uncomfortably, making it hard to breathe.

Nanashi’s eyes hold such warmth that Misane could be burned by them. Yet, all she could see was a blank eyed stare as he choked himself in the Control Tower. A shiver ran down her spine and for the second time in her life she found herself afraid of the boy standing before her.

 Somehow, Misane has ended up back at the beginning before she’d ruined everything. She’s been given a second chance. She’s been given a miracle. In a few loops she will remember having this thought and laugh. Then, she’d trudge through the next loop. And the next. And the next. Miracles don’t happen without consequence and hers is an eternity long.

_Mikado_ is surprised to see her when Nanashi brings her out due to her commanding of them both to go outside. It’s quickly covered up and he acts like he doesn’t know her.

Misane found it hard to breathe once more. She tried to speak except the relief that _she’s back at the beginning and can fix everything_ is too thick and the words get caught in her throat. Instead of saying anything at all she sobs. The tears fall and taste bitter when they fall in her mouth and even she’s unsure if whether they’re truly tears of happiness or something else. One of them tried to comfort her and she cried more. How can Nanashi be so kind and so cruel at the same time?

* * *

 

“I’ve decided on an objective. Let’s put my memories on hold and make some friends for you, Nanashi.” She steeled her heart and pushed the pain from the previous loop down into the darkest, deepest part of herself and pulls Nanashi outside. “Let’s look for someone around your age. It’ll be less difficult to talk if you’re similar ages.”

Natsukage and Miumi were friends with Nanashi the first loop. It shouldn’t be too hard to get them to become friends once more. She led him to Sunset Hill and conversed one-sidedly the entire walk about _how_ to make friends. It’s absentminded and she’s aware she’s babbling, but Nanashi is missing something and that something can be found in friends. Maybe if he’s pushed harder and forced to talk to other’s he’d realize what’s missing. _She’d_ realize what’s missing.

Natsukage is found leaning against the wall dripping wet and messing with his two-toned hair. Before Nanashi can run forward and put his foot in his mouth, Misane put her hand out to stop him. “Hold it. Before you attempt talking to him we should first gather info.”

“Haha, this makes us sound like stalkers…” There is no actual reservation in his words.

“It’s easier to make friends when you have common interests.” Misane will be unrelenting this time around. She’d make sure he understood the theory and the _necessity_ before sending him out half-heartedly.

Nanashi will be saved. Of this she is certain.

The talking between the two boys went as smooth as before which is to say not smooth at all. Somehow, Nanashi pushed the other boy away again despite having common ground. At this, Nanashi just smiled and said he’d continue to pursue the brash boy. _Perhaps this is a good thing,_ she thought. With Natsukage they have an in to stop the hackings of the Sky-Sea-Run class. Maybe, they can nip the hackers in the bud now that their goal and identities were known. Her attention could solely be focused on Nanashi then.

The hope burned fiercely within her chest as the second loop continued. But, after Nomiya is defeated once more and they retire back to the apartment, Misane found herself stopping. She couldn’t tell Nanashi she was from the future. Not yet, at least. Her mouth opened on its own accord and shut just as quickly multiple times. The lie wanted, _needed_ to come out.

Instead she said, “All right. Show my your BitPhone data.”

* * *

 

The third and fourth time don’t go any differently.

They end up in the Control Room and Misane watched with frozen limbs as Nanashi strangled himself. No matter how many times she sees it, she can’t move.

The sixth time, Nanashi stared at her as he was dying for the first time. Her breath caught in her chest, but she still can’t move. Second by second his eyes dimmed till they’re glassy.

He died laughing once more.

“Now the threat of me is gone. It’s all back to normal! We can live at ease!”

* * *

 

Vaguely, she remembered Nanashi saying how the world filled in holes to remain constant. She began to wonder if she’d fallen into one of those holes and was just falling, falling, falling, and unable to hit the ground. Unable to wake up.

No matter how much she urged and begged for Nanashi to _go out and make friends_ he doesn’t do so. Enlisting Mikado to help is a pointless effort as well.

“Don’t push him too hard, Misane.” He laughed and he’s dead again beneath his younger self; throat clenched tightly between two hard hands.

Something began to die within her too.

* * *

 

“I’m stuck in a time loop,” Misane croaked out. The room is thick with shadows, the only light coming from far off dots from outside the window. It turned the already green room a forest-y color that’s easy to hide in. Her head hung between her knees and the tears won’t come no matter how she willed them to. They’ve already all been spent.

“A time loop?” Mikado asked.

It’s surprisingly difficult to get the man alone. Usually, he’s out ‘working’ during the day and once night hits he retired quickly into a spare room. The other problem is that Nanashi was a night owl and she can’t talk to Mikdao when he was awake.

“I keep waking up here after you die.” There’s a weight on her chest that relaxed just a little when she said this. All the pent up fear, frustration, and hopelessness poured out of her as she explained what she’s doing, that she knows what he’s doing, and how it all ends up the same way. There’s no tears, just a hollow voice and a hollower stare. 

"Hmm…” Mikado hummed. He sat beside her, hunched over with crossed hands and just listened. This is the first time she’d spoken to anyone about this. Every other time she tried to speak about it they were needed in finding the hackers or Mikado had to leave or Nanashi had to go out and make friends. She’s not aware of what loop this is. Ten? Fifteen? All the days meld together to one long drawn out sigh until it’s suffocated between her friend’s hands.

_Is Nanashi my friend?_ _Of course._ Misane smothered the question with a fierce mental jab. Her resolve would not break just because she was speaking of the time loops. She was Nanashi’s friend. He was hers.

Finally, after everything came out, Mikado hung his head and morosely shook it. “I’m sorry, Misane.”

They’re not the words she wanted to hear.

He promised he’d look into it. Said he had a feeling something was wrong with her due to how her numbers were scrambled. It’s the first she’s heard of it. _Have any other Nanashi’s noticed this?_ It certainly hadn’t been brought to her attention.  

There’s the faint rustle of clothing and a creak of shifting weight, but Misane didn’t move. She’s so tired. If she closed her eyes it felt like they’d never open once more.

“Misane.” She didn’t have the strength to lift her head. It was full of glassy eyes and laughs and—

_“Now the threat of me is gone. It’s all back to normal! We can live at ease!”_

She didn’t want to see death anymore.

Two limbs wrapped around her drooped shoulders and pulled her into a slender chest. His heart beat loud and _alive._ It _thumped, thumped, thumped_ loudly to the point it was all she could hear. Her eyes shut involuntarily, body relaxing into the warm embrace.

* * *

 

_What’s wrong with his heart? It beats perfectly, yet…_

* * *

 

Nanashi, can’t you see? Can’t you see that you’re a person? Someone once compared you to a program, but he was wrong. See, you’re too kind. A little over-eager, clumsy, and kind. That’s all. Don’t shy away from your self- your heart. You’re not nameless; not a nobody meant to serve others.

You’re Yoshi Nanase.

Meet others. Let them show you what a heart is. How everyone is missing something, but together we can help one another and cover what’s missing. Learn what it means to laugh, get angry, and cry. There’s a whole, wide world out there, Nanashi. So please, stop holing up in your room, willingly blinding yourself.

Misane wished she’d be able to say these words one day.

* * *

 

“I’m from the future.” Misane sat with her feet planted firmly in the pink carpet of Nanashi’s room. It’s the sixth time she’s done this and hope still burned bright within her. Nanashi can be saved. He can find his missing piece. _He just needs friends,_ she thought. _Friends. Friends. Friends._

_What’s a friend?_

“The… future?” Nanashi blinked owlishly. She threw the whole amnesiac story out the window and decided a new approach. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result was the definition of insanity. She’s not going to go crazy. “Okay… are time machines… are they a huge thing in the future? Can anyone just jump in one?”

She doesn’t mention he’s the one to build it. She already knows what he’d say.

He believed her; asked about the future and what it’s like. She of course deflected and said she can’t answer and that it’s against the rules. Are there even rules when it comes to time traveling? The only one she can think of is to not interact with your past self or events. Is this her punishment for trying to change the past? She pushed the question out of her mind with practiced ease. Of course not. This was no divine punishment. There was no such thing.

He asked if they know each other. Numbly she nodded. It felt like a lie. No one in the world knew Yoshi Nanase, not even himself.

* * *

 

“If you could put it briefly, what do you think of Nanashi? I want to hear your frank opinion.”

“Hmm… Crazy-Go-Nuts!”

* * *

 

After countless loops, Nanashi has more than 20 friends. It’s the most friends he’d ever had. Hope bloomed in her heart once more. He’s learned more about the world, about himself. Could this be the last loop?

The corridor to the Control Room was endless and dark, only illuminated by tv screens implanted into the walls. It’s dim at best and Misane barely made out the wires weaving in and out of the ceiling. They walk slowly so they don’t trip, debris lining the floor like the wires above. She took extra precaution, not wanting to trip embarrassingly like a loop in the past, and trailed one hand along the tv screens. The static tingled as if she were given continuous static shocks. She’d been in this corridor countless times. Walked behind Nanashi and stared at his back as the viruses inhibiting their way are taken down one by one. Only a few more steps and a door would come up. Behind that door would be a room with more flickering tv screens and a giant computer.

Behind that door lay a new future.

The creak barely registered. She’s heard it enough times already. Future Nanashi waited in the middle of the room, back towards them, but turned at the sound. There’s a hum in the air like its weighted coming from the hulking computer in the room. There’s not much light in the Control Room either; draped in dark violets and blues from the flickering screens. Even after the countless loops, Misane had to let her eyes adjust.

"Hey. Past me, Misane-chan. So you came.” He doesn’t sound surprised. He never does. “Well, then. Would you indulge if I talked a little about the past?”

Fear wriggled in Misane’s heart. He talked about why he came, how the Master Program had caused too many people to grieve and how he needed to fix his mistakes. She waited for a difference in his speech, for _something_ to prove there’d been a change. He continued to speak, waving a hand around and smiling. The words eventually grew garbled, rambling in her ears how _this is the same fate_ before the room finally went silent as the horror eclipsed all her senses. The ground teetered and swayed before her eyes. The air suffocated and hummed in her throat. Once more she can’t move nor speak.

Was this loop all for nothing too? Were 20 friends— 20 different people and opinions and _existences_ not enough? Had Nanashi not realized what he was missing? Had she not realized what he was missing still?

Nanashi stepped forward, breaking Misane out of her trance. The fear beat like a vicious beast hiding in her rapid pulse, waiting to snarl and bite at what he was going to say.

“I should vanish from this world.”

_?!_

There was a window she’d never noticed before. A lone window at the far wall of the room. It’s funny. How many times had she stood in the room and never noticed the window before? Nanashi brushed past his future self like a ghost and continued towards it.

“Nanashi, what are you doing…?” He climbed up the windows with ease. “It’s dangerous there!”

“Just what it looks like! I’m leaving this world. Then the future me will be gone, right?” He turned and spread his arms wide as if trying to hug the entire sky. It bled onto him, coloring his coat and hair a faint blue. His face was nothing compared to his future self; wreathed in a broad smile.

“Right… if you disappear in the past, everything afterwards never happens,” agreed Future Nanashi, staring with lone pink eye _alive._

What was he doing? Why wasn’t he stopping him? Misane tried to take a step only to find her foot cemented to the floor.

“If I die, the world will be peaceful. It’ll even make my dream come true, so it’s the happiest possible use of my life.”

“Nanashi! …Please step away!” Her voice was raw and pleading as she screamed his name over and over. She hadn’t wanted this. _She didn’t want Nanashi to die. Not like this. Not like this. Not like this._

The sun erupted from behind the clouds for a second, illuminating his figure in shining white. “It’s dangerous, so don’t come after me.” The only noise she could hear was her own heart beating obscenely loud in the otherwise silent room. The next words were almost lost among the roar. “Thank you for putting up with my selfishness. Sorry to have caused so much trouble.”

Trouble? Misane tried to speak. What trouble? He’s her friend. She _wanted_ to be troubled by him. No matter how many loops she’d gone through- and will go through- that would never change. He would always be her friend.

“Bye-bye! Right now… I’m as happy as can be!” He tipped forward with a smile.

The spell broke. Misane tore across the room, shoving past anything in her way towards the window. The ledge bit into her stomach as she crashed into it, the pain barely noticeable. _“Nanashi!”_ She screamed his name till her throat was bloody; the pleas becoming quieter and quieter till they were nothing more than hoarse whispers thrown among the howling hum of the machines.

* * *

 

“If you could put it briefly, what do you think of Nanashi?”

“I-I think he’s nice… but.”

* * *

 

Misane woke up to a blurry world with a throat like she’d swallowed needles and a pain in her chest so visceral she’s certain she’s been torn in two. Staring at the muddled white ceiling, she doesn’t notice when Nanashi came in. She’s numb. Completely and utterly numb. There’s no other way to describe it.

She continued to stare at the ceiling, searching for some sort of answer or anything vaguely resembling one. Someone shook her shoulder. She let them.

_Nanashi is dead._ Her shoulder was continuously jostled, but it scarcely registered. _He just vanished._ It wasn’t her name being called, but instead repetitions of ‘Random girl’ with a note of fear. _Nanashi is alive._

_He’s alive. He’s alive. He’s alive._

He’s alive and she’s the one that’s dead.

* * *

 

Even with half-hearted nudging here and there, Nanashi went out to make friends. Misane stayed behind, laid in his bed and continued to stare at the ceiling. Maybe she could let one loop go on without her. What could be worse than seeing Nanashi commit suicide? Immediately, the thought was shoved away and Misane’s face tightened. No. If anything, she should be working harder than before to help him.

He came back all grins and cheerful name calling. Without prompting the BitPhone data was shown. She didn’t know the people personally, but with all the time loops recognized who they all are.

“Tell me about them.” She doesn’t know why she asked. She knew what they’re all like, have listened a hundred times to what Nanashi said to them and how they respond and even what gifts they’d like. Somewhere in a part not infected with numbness she found its amusing how quick people became Nanashi’s friend once he showered them in gifts.

“Hmm…” Nanashi scratched at his cheek, eyebrows furrowed as he tries to think. “Ah! Well… Kiri is a middle-aged self-declared mad scientist! He’s kind of weird, but nice. And Sakuma is the clerk at Bitwave- the shop down the street- and has a bad attitude and can be mean, but I think she’s a good person!” He goes on to talk about all the possible people he could friend in the area and how each of them in their own way was a good person.

Misane found herself smiling. She hasn’t found herself smiling in a long while.

“Misane-chan? What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

* * *

 

The window was the first thing she noticed when she entered the Control Room. It loomed over Future Nanashi’s shoulder, tauntingly far and yet so close. Only four strides and she’d be at the ledge. Only four strides and Nanashi was jumping with a smile.

* * *

 

“So if someone told you to die, would you die?” It’d been two loops from when Nanashi committed suicide the first time. It’d been three times Misane has seen him jump. Now, no matter how many people show up on his friend list it changes nothing.

“Yeah! If my life could save someone else’s, and it made them happy, I’d give it for them for sure!” There was no hesitation.

“I see…” Misane’s heart dropped to her stomach and sat like a stone. This only confirmed what she’d learned. What she’d seen.

“But I do only have one life, so of course I’d be very careful about such a decision.” He added quickly, waving his hands around as if trying to disperse the gloomy air filling the room. They just cut through the air, doing nothing.

_Very careful._ Misane knew that all too well. With a trembling hand, she grabbed Nanashi’s collar. The white fabric crushed easily beneath her grip. His throat would crush just as easily.

“Misane-chan?” He tilted his head, appraising her. “Was that weird? Sorry.”

It had been painted a pastel blue with the sky as the background. The haunting color of an ending summer day. It had been painted a ruined red when he hit the pavement. The haunting color of a wasted life. The collar slipped from between her fingers. “I care about you, Nanashi. Please don’t choose to throw your life away.”

* * *

 

“What do you think about Nanashi?”

“He’s such a good guy it’s gross. People usually expect repayment. Hoping for thanks, feeling satisfaction about doing good deeds for others… I don’t see anything like that with him. Besides that, it’s like he doesn’t think, or doesn’t have real interest in others. He just takes interest in people and devotes himself to them. It feels abnormal. It’s abnormal how much he understands us. It’s abnormal how he’s kind in such precise ways… he comes off like a program made to serve people.”

* * *

 

“I’m stuck in a time loop,” Misane said. It wasn’t night time yet, evening nearing with dinner laid out on the table between her and Mikado. Nanashi was still trying to make friends. She could hear him over the listening device as he played with the twins at Sunset Hill. Mikado paused with chopsticks midair.

“A time loop?”

“Yes.” She hesitated, mulling over her next words. “You… die and I wake up in Nanashi’s room. Then the week starts all over again.” Misane still has enough control to not slump into the cushions. She was always hesitant to bring up the fact she was stuck in a time loop. It made Mikado’s next actions unpredictable. Well, more unpredictable. And no concrete information ever came up.

“I die?” His face doesn’t even twitch at the revelation.

Misane nodded.

“I see.”

“But you already know this, don’t you?” She looked up, fixing him with a tired look.

“Know that I die? Or that you’re stuck in a time loop?” He set the chopsticks down with a laugh.

“Time loop.” Though, she figured in his mind he thought death was inevitable. “My numbers are off.” She recalled what a previous Mikado has said. “They’re scrambled.”

There was a jolt like an electric clap at the base of her neck. She started, a body wide shiver running through her.

“I wouldn’t say scrambled. They’re… hmm… I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this.” Mikado peered closer at her, his smile becoming a look of concentration. The static lingered beneath her skin much like when she trailed her fingers across the tv screens in the Control Tower. He was obviously trying to sort what he saw. It wasn’t often, if ever, a problem came along he couldn’t solve. “Have you mentioned this to anyone else?” The look of concentration slipped away, but Misane doubted he wasn’t thinking about it in the back of his head.

“Yes. I’ve brought it up in two different time loops.”

“And what did I say?”

A bitter taste filled Misane’s mouth. She tried to swallow, but it didn’t fade no matter how much she tried. “…That you’d look into it.”

“And I’m not much help, am I?”

“…No.” Her voice fell flat.

“How strange. To think there is something I can’t understand in an instance. Any information you want to pass on? Maybe I can build on what a previous me started.” A smile broke across his face. “Though, I didn’t know a time loop was possible. After all, even if I die it doesn’t impact you. There’d be no future erasure.”

“Because it already happened. The moment either of us came back the future we knew was gone,” Misane finished. She’d known this the second she stepped through the time machine. Yet, even with this knowledge she’d gone through. After all, Nanashi had to be stopped. _Helped._

_And he still thinks his death wouldn’t impact me?_ Misane’s lips pulled into a terse frown. She followed him into the past, how thick could he possibly be?

“And I suppose that future erasure is not the cause of this?”

“You’ve ruled that out already.”

The room quieted due to the occupants thinking. An itch started at the back of Misane’s throat. Words threatened to claw their way out, but were stopped by sheer force of will. However, Mikado noticed. He was quite good at noticing whenever she was uncomfortable with something.

“Did you want to tell me about anything else?”

She shifted on the couch suddenly unconformable. Misane was unaccustomed to lying. It was necessary for her job and sometimes even life in general, but it didn’t mean she had to like it or was good at it. Especially when it came to Nanashi. He could tell easily. Too easily. Still, talking about Nanashi’s suicide was too much. Too raw. No matter how many times she saw it- or would see it- she’d never be able to speak about it.

There was no hesitation. “No.”

* * *

 

Waking up on Nanashi’s futon was second nature. The smell of his shampoo on the pillow and the crinkle of the sheets beneath more familiar than her own. What did her bed feel like again? It’s been an eternity since she’s slept on it.

* * *

 

“Though it hurts a bit to see Misane-chan looking so pained. Even if she’s surely the only one.” Nanashi paused, eye widening a fraction before flitting away.

Is that what her face looked like? Even after all this time? Misane merely stood to the side, watching what she’d seen before. Another bit of her heart already curled in her chest, wilting beneath the harsh rays of reality.

“…I should ask for your answer soon.”

* * *

 

  1. Nanashi had 44 friends. Misane held the number like a prayer in her head. 44. 44. 44.



The corridor was still as dark and gloomy as the other times. Yet, the dim glow from the tvs seemed brighter than ever, guiding her feet with ease. Even the wires that hung from the ceiling looked less like nooses and more like actual wires.

_Only a few more feet._

The dread that pulled at her feet, pleading that she stop and not go through the door was heavier than ever before. A part of her wanted to listen, to just lie down and let Nanashi go on without her.

_Only a few more feet._

She slowed to a stop. “…The Control Room is up ahead.”

 “First, let me apologize.” Misane never told him about the time loops. Not once. She came close a few times, but at the last second stopped. This was not his burden to bear. Not his responsibility. “I hid many things from you. Even if that caused you to hate me, if it caused you to lose trust in me…” She had lost trust in him at one point. Unable to even look him in the eyes. Then she lost trust in herself. But, Nanashi. Not once did he ever doubt her and her dubious methods or her commanding that he go outside. “I did it wholly out of the desire to help you, Nanashi.”

“Why?”

The words she’d wanted to say for so long built at the base of her throat. Tears burned at the edge of her eyes, threatening to fall. Loop after loop she’d shoved them down. Unwilling to put a voice to her hopes and fears. She had the strength to say them now. They weren’t phrases he wouldn’t understand or deflect away. He wasn’t taller, his hair longer, or face more mature, but he had definitely changed. They poured out like water out of a broken dam. All the fear, dread and distress. How she didn’t want him to vanish. How choosing to vanish was scarier than anything.

And try to deflect he did. Nanashi seemed to curl in, arms crossed as if hugging himself despite the smile on his face. “It wouldn’t matter if and when I vanished. Like everyone says, I’m worthless. I don’t think anything of being unhappy, I don’t mind.”

“So why? ...Don’t be so nice to the likes of me.”

“Is that all you wanted to say.”

Nanashi was desperate to be someone’s ‘missing puzzle piece’. Even now, he didn’t truly understand that he was ‘himself’. But, that was okay. Because he was just beginning to see. He curled more, his smile beginning to crack.

“Are you done?!” 

Misane enveloped him in a hug. Nanashi’s arms hung limply in the air, unsure of whether to hug back or fall. And out came the rest. Her hopes, her dreams, her love. The weight of a thousand times fell from her shoulders and suddenly, Misane felt very light. Her grip tightened as if the moment would disappear. Nanashi finally discovered what to do with his arms as they wrapped around her as tight as her own. His face buried into her shoulder and Misane felt the tears soak into her jacket.

His voice broke, belaying the sobs that racked his thin chest. “Don’t think about me. Don’t worry! Don’t care. Don’t look. Don’t acknowledge! …That’s what would make me happiest…”

Her own voice was just as cracked. “I want to think about you. I DO think about you. I worry, I care…I happen to acknowledge… but that’s a happy thing to me.”

Misane found herself kneeling on the uneven ground unsure of when she’d fallen. It didn’t matter. The words she’d wanted to say had finally come out. Nanashi pulled away, crying with a smile that Misane had never seen anything like before. A wet, chocked laugh left his lips. “That’s kind of strange.”

“Yes… so it is. I’m strange, too. So, we can both be odd together.”

* * *

 

Misane woke up to a bleary green world. She blinked slowly, unaccustomed to seeing the color in the morning. _This isn’t Nanashi’s futon._ She sat up and pushed the blankets away.

“She’s awake!”

“Good morning, Misane- chan.”

Two voices sounded simultaneous at the far end of the room. Nanashi and Mikado stood where the living room, _Mikado’s room_ she reminded herself, fed into the kitchen. The air was burnt with the faint aftertaste of syrup. A plate of what could have resembled pancakes at one time was raised into the air. “We’re trying to make breakfast, want to help?” Nanashi grinned, and she could see the faint powder of pancake mix dusting his cheeks.

Misane smiled, face softening. Today was a new day. “Sure.”

**Author's Note:**

> Lmao I tried. Most of the dialogue is taken directly from the game idc. Thanks for reading.


End file.
